Sherlock Holmes 3 May Happen Sooner Than We Expected, Here's What We Know

Robert Downey Jr. has been playing Tony Stark for eight years now. However, it’s not the only major movie franchise that the actor is involved with. He also currently owns the role of the big screen Sherlock Holmes. It’s been nearly five years since we’ve seen, or even heard, anything from that series, but now Downey is talking about it again, and he’s talking about filming one this year.

In speaking with The Short List Robert Downey Jr. mentioned off hand that whenever he’s in London he tries to meet up with his Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie. The actor was then asked if any of those meetings ever involve conversations about a Sherlock Holmes 3. As it turns out, they totally do.

We’re talking about it right now. NOW. I can’t wait. … We can do some preliminary stuff. … I know Guy Ritchie loves me as much as I love him – and he damn well should. When we’re making those Sherlock movies it is off the hook. We’ll attempt to make one this year. It really is a big deal to go and do those movies. I’m tired all the time, but I’m excited about it.

It’s been several months since we heard anything about a potential Sherlock Holmes 3. Last year, we were told that there was a script being worked on, but the implication was that they hadn’t really found an idea to wrap a story around yet, much less an actual shooting script. Even Robert Downey Jr.’s words here are a little vague. They certainly imply that the film has a direction, or how else can they do any "preliminary stuff" but he doesn’t specifically say the movie is ready to start filming, rather that they’re going to try and make it this year. There could still be a lot of work that needs to be done in order to make that happen.

Both films in the Sherlock Holmes franchise have grossed over a half billion dollars at the global box office, so from a business standpoint, there is zero reason to not make this movie happen. Guy Ritchie is currently finishing up his King Arthur movie and so he may have time to work on Sherlock Holmes 3 soon. How much time Robert Downey Jr. has before Tony Stark is needed for Avengers: Infinity War - Part One is unknown. If they can't get to work on a new Holmes movie soon, Downey's Marvel responsibilities could keep him away from it for another few years.

The only idea that we’ve heard for a potential Sherlock Holmes 3 plot came from co-star Jude Law and it involves time travel and needs to be buried in a shallow grave. The one thing we know for sure is that the film will need to resolves Sherlock’s "death." Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows wrapped with the famous drop from Reichenbach Falls and while the audience is aware that Sherlock survived, Watson is not.

Does the idea of seeing Sherlock Holmes 3 start filming this year have anybody else tremendously excited? Let us know in the comments.